September 2015 Notes

September FTX will commence at 1800 on the 18th at Training Area North. This will be a whole weekend to get everybody back into the field and try out all that new gear you accumulated over the summer. That means you need to repack your gear and oil up those firearms before coming out. We will be hitting Rural OPS pretty hard the next three months so your gear needs to be ready. Big items on the list are Small Unit Movements, Hand Signals and Land-Nav. So Bring your compass, your notebooks and your good boots. There is a lot of work to get done.

And during the summer, Dan Morgan has been continuing his training story, The Patrol. Up to Chapter 7 now. They are just about seven klicks west of the Appalachian Trail heading west-south-west across the ridges. Written so well, you’ll feel like you’re right there crossing the creek with them. Links to the individual chapters down near the bottom on the Sidebar. Read them as a training exercise, because that’s what they are.

Another training site. Pulse Fire Arms interestingly enough, has a package course of on-line study designed just for groups that need a progression of training leading towards the defense of a neighborhood or community Group access to these training modules on their website is only $1800 a year for 18 men. After completing that series of courses, there is the on-site 5 day training. $3500 might be a bit pricey, but it is pretty much an “everything in one spot” training course. Haven’t seen anything else covering this wide a spectrum of training with a single focus. Not sure how much training someone can absorb in a such short training span without a good deal of prior background training. And Practice. There is the training manual,Unit Tactics Necessary To Defend A Neighborhood Or Community, that might be a good place to start looking at what their training might have to offer.

AAR Oath Keepers Summit, Gilbert Creek, WV, 29AUG.

The Oath Keepers hosted a weekend summit on Community Preparedness Teams over the weekend of 29 and 30AUG held at a fairly remote site near Gilbert Creek, West Virginia. (USGS Wharncliffe Quad Map). Location 17 203 583 or 37.5684 N 81.9022 W. Approximately 150 people from a dozen different states in attendance. Approximately 30 Militiamen from seven states also in attendance.

And when they say “Summit”, they mean summit. This is the Ohio Valley Minutemen sign directing you to the Militia camp site. Elevation 1640 ft ASL.

And not a very good photo of the Militia Campsite.

Photo of Militia members heading up to stage area just before the arrival and speech of Oath Keepers.

And the Oath Keepers preferred mode of transportation.

The Oath Keepers flyer on Community Preparedness Teams.

The highlight of the event, for the Militiamen anyway, was the midnight patrol along the one mile perimeter road around the stage and camping area Friday . Several of the campers noticed and called in to the Oath Keepers that we made them feel uncomfortable. The next day, after the Oath Keepers speech, we mingled with the discussion groups to assess their views on the Community Preparedness Team concept. A good majority of them favored the CPT concept and would welcome the Oath Keepers training . A few said they didn’t see the Militia as a viable source of training because we were so far away. Might have won some hearts and minds. Public relations can be a tad difficult sometimes.

Video of the speech (38 minutes) at the Oath Keepers Summit is up on YouTube. Watch it while you can. Looks like things are going to ramp up and maybe get dicey this fall.